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Sunday, December 29, 2013

A
massive ice storm has left about 56,500 homes and businesses in Ontario, Quebec
and New Brunswick still without power after a week.

Hardest
hit was Toronto where hydro crews had reduced the number of properties without
electricity in below-freezing temperatures to 32,000 on Friday, down from a
peak of more than 300,000 last Sunday.

At
the start of the weekend, there were still about 40,000 customers in Ontario
without power, 14,000 in New Brunswick and 2,500 in Quebec.

The storm coated trees and power lines with a thick layer of heavy ice,
bringing them down and cutting off power.

The massive around-the-clock effort to clear trees and limbs to replace
power lines and restore electricity has had utility companies in the three
provinces receiving help from outside, including New York state and Michigan.

Toronto Hydro focused on restoring power to the most people in the
shortest amount of time, including two hospitals, and is just now getting to
clearing debris and reconnecting individual homes, said chief executive officer
Anthony Haines.

Mayor Rob Ford, who has held daily news conferences since last Sunday
and has visited “warming shelters,” said the city is “doing the best we can” at
getting all the power restored.

Authorities were warning against the use of generators and barbecues
inside to keep warm as there have been reports of five people killed in Ontario
and Quebec from carbon monoxide poisoning.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Workers in the “world’s oldest profession” have won an historic victory
as the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the country's prostitution laws.

The landmark unanimous ruling Friday by the six men and three women
judges dealt with prostitution-related prohibitions against brothels, living “off
the avails of prostitution” and street soliciting.

Canada’s social landscape has changed since the laws were last upheld by
the court in 1990, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin said.

The
issue is “not about whether prostitution should be legal or not,” she added,
but whether the laws are constitutional – and the judges concluded they are
not.

It
upholds the case of sex-trade workers who are seeking safer working conditions.

The court has given the Canadian government one year to produce new
legislation while the existing laws remain in effect.

The
judges agreed with an Ontario Court of Appeal ruling that said outlawing
brothels exposes sex workers to added danger by forcing them onto the streets.

The Supreme Court appeared to acknowledge the case of Robert Pickton
convicted of killing prostitutes in British Columbia.

“A
law that prevents street prostitutes from resorting to a safe haven such as
grandma's house while a suspected serial killer prowls the streets, is a law
that has lost sight of its purpose,” the ruling said.

Saturday, December 14, 2013

The days of door-to-door mail delivery in urban areas across Canada are
about to end.

And, the declining number of people still using the mail will see
substantial increases in domestic stamp prices – to 85 cents from 63 cents if
bought in a booklet and to $1 individually – starting March 31.

It’s
part of a plan by Canada Post to cut its operating costs by up to $900 million
a year based on the reality that fewer people use the service in these days of
e-mail, courier deliveries and bills received and paid online.

As
well, the “average Canadian household” now buys fewer than two stamps a month.

Thirty years ago, the post office began
installing group mail boxes in newly built subdivisions and that will be
implemented in all city areas over the next five years, said spokesman Jon
Hamilton.

Canada Post said up to 8,000 jobs would be eliminated while nearly
15,000 employees will retire or leave the government agency within that time.

This will be a hardship for seniors with mobility issues who still want five-day-a-week
home delivery of their mail, said Susan Eng of the Canadian Association of
Retired Persons.

“In
cases where there are mobility issues, we will ensure a box can be accessed
that isn't too high and we will provide additional keys (for caregivers to pick
up the mail),” Hamilton said.

Saturday, December 7, 2013

When investigators came knocking at Kathryn Jones’ door in Hamilton,
Ontario she at first hesitated at letting them in.

It
turns out they were really from the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. (OLG)
trying to find the winner of an unclaimed ticket worth $50 million, tax free.

And, as luck would have it, Jones, a 55-year-old engineer, was
determined to be the winner of the prize paid all at once – even though she lost
the ticket that was about to expire and didn’t know it was the winner.

The
investigation that led to Jones resulted from looking into the case of one of
435 people who tried to claim the Lotto Max prize from the Nov. 30, 2012 draw.

The trail led to Jones based on a surveillance video from a store near
her office and credit card records showing she bought a lottery ticket there at
the time the winner was sold.

Had
she paid cash for the ticket, she might not have been found, said Mike Hamel of
OLG's corporate investigations.